


a bond unit is like a carrot

by LightningRooks



Series: the life cycle of a bond unit [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Buried Alive, Gen, Nohr | Conquest Route, POV Second Person, a lot of the characters are there just. briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 12:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10020632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningRooks/pseuds/LightningRooks
Summary: a bond unit is like a carrot. their hair sticks out of the ground and the rest of their body grows in the earth.or, the life cycle of a bond unit





	

it is cool and dark and you are suffocating. there’s dirt everywhere- in your mouth, your nostrils, your ears. you are buried alive. but...this doesn’t scare you. perhaps you are too new to comprehend fear, but this seems to be what was supposed to happen. 

you feel a breeze ruffle through your hair and realize that you aren’t that far from the surface. you push up experimentally, and find that the ground gives way easily, allowing you to push yourself up enough to bring your eyes and nose above ground. you flare your nostrils, and enough dirt falls out that you can breathe in just enough to blow your nose, clearing the rest of the dirt out. you can breathe now. 

but there’s still dirt in your mouth, and it tastes really bad. and you probably should get out of the dirt anyway. before you can try to push yourself up, however, your dirt filled ears pick up the sound of footsteps behind you. you can’t turn around to see them, but luckily, they come around to crouch in front of you. 

it’s a child. they’re tiny, and wear strange grey armor with a blue scarf, and have big red eyes. a part of you recognizes them immediately. 

_ brother _ , you think,  _ get me out of here.  _

you do not say this, of course, because your mouth is full of dirt, and is, moreover, underground. and you’re not entirely sure you  _ can _ speak either. your brother is curious, and studies you intently. after coming to some sort of conclusion, he stands up and runs away. 

you can’t hear what he says or does, but before you know it, there is a man that is built like a mountain in front of you, and another older man with a stern expression on his face. behind you, you hear her voice. 

_ mother _ . 

“are you sure this is a good idea milady?” the older man says, glaring at you. “we have no idea who they are- they could easily be a hoshidan spy.”

“well, whether or not they’re a spy, they still need to dug up. we can’t just leave them there,” your mother says behind you. the two men nod and get on their knees, and you can see your mother’s shadow looming over you. they scoop the dirt out from around your head and within a few moments, you are uncovered enough to spit out the dirt in your mouth.  you cough and cough and cough and the three of them give you enough space to spit and hack all the dirt in your mouth. 

“lady rose...she almost looks like you,” the second man says, voice gruff but soft. “she’s got your eyes at the very least. and your nose.” 

“really? that’s strange,” mother says behind you. “can you speak?” 

you open your mouth, but nothing comes out. you can grunt, whine, and whistle, but speech seems to be impossible. your mother crawls around to sit in front of you, and stares at you curiously. 

“she does look like me,” she said, long black hair blowing in the breeze. “how curious.” 

you stare up at your mother, and she looks back at you, studying you. the older man looks concerned, and places a hand on her shoulder.

“lady rose?” he says, and your mother jolts back to reality. 

“sorry! guess i spaced out there. let’s hurry up and get her out,” she says, shaking her head. she stays in front of you, digging your neck out. you wiggle a little, and manage to loosen the dirt around you. when they get to your bare shoulders, they stop again. 

“um, miss?” the tall man asks. “are you...naked?”

you turn your neck to look at him, and nod. of course you were- why would you be born with clothes on? he blushes. your mother unclasps her cape, and sets it on the ground beside her. 

“we’ll cover her up with that,” you mother says. “she’s going to need a bath anyway.”

by the time they dig you up to your breasts, the tall man’s face is incredibly red and he can’t stand to look at you. your mother notices this and says, “go get some rope, and get camilla and her dragon. we’ll tie the rope under her arms and have camilla’s dragon pull her up gently. oh! and grab a whistle!”

the man nods and runs off. 

“benny’s very shy,” your mother explains. “he might look tough, but he’s a big softie.” 

“milady,” the older man says. “should we really be divulging any sort of information to her?” 

“gunter, relax,” she says, an easy smile on her face. “i don’t think she’s a spy.”

the old man harrumphed, but continued digging. 

a few minutes later, a dragon and a tall woman with purple hair stared at you, and you weren’t sure who to be more afraid of. 

“darling, who is this? she’s got your nose and eyes,” said the woman, who was presumably camilla. 

“we don’t know. i... have an idea, but i’ll need to talk to lilith before i can confirm anything,” your mother said. camilla shrugged, and took the rope, wrapping it around your torso, the rope snug in your armpits. 

“now, i’m going to give you this whistle, and if you feel like you’re being ripped in two, or if the rope cuts into your skin, blow this as loud as you can,” camilla says, pushing the whistle into your mouth. you nod.

the next thing you know, the dragon is right above you, and begins flapping its wings, hovering just above the ground. then it moves up, dragging you out of the earth. the rope starts to burn and your chest hurts, but it isn’t until your legs are mostly above ground that you blow the whistle. the dragon stops moving, and your mother comes and unties you, catching you as you collapse onto her. 

the dirt is loose enough that you can simply pull up and you’re free. your mother pulls back and wraps her cape around you, using her clasp to pin it together for now. 

“that’s better!” she says brightly. “let’s get you in cleaned up and in some real clothes.” 

time passes rather quickly after that. your mother leads you into a bathing house, and you are covered in suds and bubbles in no time. camilla stays with you as your mother goes to find clothes for you, and you think she’s trying to scare you- trying to keep you in line. another girl shows up- she introduces herself as elise, and she never stops chattering. she asks you all sorts of questions, but you have none of the answers, nor the ability to speak them. 

“i’m going to call you lavender! i was gonna call you carrot, because you came out of the ground like one, but i like lavender better,” she announces cheerfully as she rubs your face with a rag. she frowns. “lavender, what do you have on your face?” 

“it looks like a tattoo,” camilla remarks, putting her hand under your chin and forcing you to look at her. “but it’s neither a hoshidan nor a nohrian design.”

“that’s because it’s the brand of a bond unit,” says another voice. you turn around to see your mother return, this time with a strange dragon creature. 

“a bond unit?” camilla echoes.

“yeah, i...i’d been having dreams, of other astral castles,” your mother admits. “i met other versions of myself in these castles- they didn’t look like me, they didn’t always act like me, but we all had the same...starting point. i became friends with some of them in my dreams.” 

“but they weren’t just dreams. from the bonds that rose made, lavender was born,” the dragon explains. 

“from the bonds?” elise says, curious. 

“yes, the astral plane is...peculiar like that.” 

“so this girl...she’s literally the brainchild of you and another version of yourself?” camilla asks, skeptical. 

“yeah, i guess so,” you mother says. 

you knew all of this already- your other mother was far away, in another hoshido, with another army. your mother leans over the edge of the bath and ruffles your orange hair, and you smile at her.

“i guess that makes you my responsibility, huh?” she says, smiling. 

after you are cleaned and clothed, you are brought to your mother’s treehouse, where you meet her husband. he is...very dramatic. 

“oh, rose, how could you do this to me?” he says, hand on his forehead as he falls backwards into your mother’s arms. “i’ve been replaced by the woman of your dreams- how could i not see this coming?” 

he starts sobbing, and your mother just sighs. “izana, save the theatrics for later. you’re scaring lavender.”

you blink. 

“oh, alright,” he sighs, standing up. he inspects you, humming thoughtfully. he suddenly smiles and claps you on the back. “well, welcome to the family, lavender! kana should be along soon- he’s your half brother!” 

you nod politely. you remember kana. 

“i’ll admit this all a little strange, but any child of rose’s is a child of mine-er, sort of,” izana says, and your mother moves to sit down at the small table in her room. 

you have dinner with your family that night- your entire family. xander, leo, and camilla are still suspicious of you, but elise, izana and kana are friendly and warm. it’s...nice.

it’s a few days before you are allowed to go anywhere by yourself- well, perhaps allowed is the wrong word. it’s a few days before you are able to go anywhere by yourself. everyone seems distrustful of you, and your inability to speak doesn’t help. some of them think you are simply refusing to speak.

you find yourself at the archery range, where the man with skunk like hair- shura, that’s his name- is teaching the farmer girl, mozu, how to shoot. she’s getting very good. you approach them, whistling to get their attention. you’ve taken to whistling to communicate- leo is showing you how to speak with your hands, but you’re still learning, and no one else knows what it means just yet. 

mozu waves at you, and shura just crosses his arms. you point at the extra bow, wanting to give it a try. you’ve tried using swords, axes, lances, and even tomes- nothing seems to feel right. archery is the one thing left to try.

“you want to try shooting?” shura asks. you nod. 

“alright,” he says, moving to stand next to you. “you hold a bow like- yeah, just like that. then you grab an arrow, and-”

as soon as the bow and arrow are in your hands, some part of wakes up, and you quickly load the arrow and fire, getting a bullseye on your first try.

you are stunned. you look from the bow in your hand to the target, then to shura and mozu, who are also stunned. 

“did you...did you know you could do that?” shura asks, eyes wide. you shake your head.

you have no idea how you just did that- it's like it was ingrained in you, and it came to you as easy as breathing. something about the bow just felt right. you picked up another arrow and tried again. the arrow landed just shy of a bullseye. you fired again and again and again, missing only once or twice. by the end of the day, your mother had decided to class you as an sniper. 

you earned the right to stand by your mother’s side on the battlefield, and fought with her as she conquered hoshido. you earned the trust of her comrades, and the fear of her enemies. you are proud to be her daughter.

but all good things must come to an end. 

there’s another archer, setsuna. she’s good. clumsy, distractible, but good. maybe even better than you are. 

well, definitely better than you are, you think as you lay on lush grass, arrows in your shoulder, your chest, and your throat.

you hear your brother, kana. he’s rampaging again. your vision gets hazy and your mother runs to your side, screaming and crying and begging you to stay. where are you going? then you remember. there is an arrow in your throat. it’s getting very hard to breathe. you try to whistle, to say goodbye, but all that comes out is wheezing sound. 

_mother, was i good enough?_ you think. _i know i am not one your children, not really. did i do enough? did i make you proud?_

your mother cradles you, in a way she never got to. you were already grown when you were born, and you never asked for affection, never initiated hugs. you wished you had asked for hugs more often. this was nice. 

you wheeze one last time, and fall asleep. it had been nice.

**Author's Note:**

> i really think bond units are neat, and i really wanted to explore ways that the could be incorporated into the actual game as more than just blank units. i might write more about lavender, but i really just wanted to get this out as stress relief. you can contact me at lightningrooks on tumblr if you wanna chat!


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